Rewinding machines are known to be used for winding a predetermined amount of paper or other web material around a tubular spool, mostly made of cardboard and commonly called “core”, so as to produce reels, called “logs” in jargon, which have a preset diameter.
The winding-up of material onto the core is carried out at a station provided with a pair of winding rollers by means of which the logs are held and caused to rotate around the longitudinal axis of the core until the required diameter is reached. Rewinding machines of this type are described, for example, in U.S. 2003/0001042 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,033 and WO 01/64563.
Upon completion of the winding, it is necessary to discharge the log from the rewinding machine to feed the same log to further treatments. To this end, the log is released from the hold of said rollers and it results therefore free of rolling down along the exit plane out of the machine. However, since the release of the log takes place without a preventive slowing down of the winding rollers, it rolls along said exit plane with a speed which is higher than that required for the operations performed in the stations located downstream. Accordingly, it is necessary to slow down the logs upon their exit from the rewinding machine.